Longhorn Hoops: The History of Texas Basketball

Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1998. CD3 - A first edition (no additional printing) hardcover book SIGNED and inscribed by Richard Pennington to previous owner on the title page in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has some wrinkling and crease on the edges and corners, some scattered scratches and dents, light discoloration and shelf wear. Book lightly bowed, some bumped corners, some wrinkling on the spine edges, a few scattered light stains on the page edges, author's business card taped on the front free endpaper, light tanning and shelf wear. Foreword by Dr. Denton Cooley. 11.25"x8.75", 375 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Almost a century of UT basketball is covered in this exhaustively researched book. By using the Daily Texan, Austin American-Statesman, Cactus (student yearbook), Alcalde (alumni magazine) and media guides as his primary sources, author Richard Pennington has documented hoop history on the Forty Acres. More than 2,9000 games involving the Longhorn men and women are described in 363 pages, complemented by 109 photographs. Glorious seasons, mediocre seasons and outright stinkers are subject to Pennington's deft writing touch. He shows the facilities - Clark Field, where the game was played in the great outdoors; the ramshackle Men's Gym, which burned in 1928; Gregory Gymnasium, home of the Horns for 47 years; and the 16,000-seat Erwin Center, which opened in the 1978 season. Commissioned and authorized by the University Texas athletic department, Longhorn Hoops maintains a refreshing objectivity throughout. The reader is treated to anecdotes ranging from ridiculous to sublime and from funny to tragic, as well as player rebellions, hiring and firing of coaches and wild rumbles culminating in the 1963 UT-A&M game at Gregory Gym. Pennington also charts the painfully slow process of racial integration, the ebb and flow of opposing teams in and out of the Southwest Conference and Big 12 and shows how Dr. James Naismith's game has evolved from plodding, ground-bound finesse to the muscle, speed, altitude and exponentially greater skills of today. The orange-and-white stars of the past are recalled, including Clyde Littlefield, Holly Brock, Jack Gray, Bobby Moers, Slater Martin, Raymond Downs, Jay Arnette, Larry Robinson, Johnny Moore, Travis Mays, Terrence Rencher and Reggie Freeman. Men like E.J. "Doc" Stewart, Jack Gray, Harold Bradley, Abe Lemons (whose 1978 team won the NIT) and Tom Penders put in successful stints coaching the Longhorns, and the Rick Barnes era has just begun. And women's basketball receives equal coverage, starting with the early days when men were forbidden to watch and the decades of non-varsity competition imposed by physical education director Anna Hiss. With time and effort, however, Jody Conradt's program scaled the heights, winning the 1986 NCAA title. This book details the play of outstanding female athletes such as Linda Andrews Waggoner, Retha Swindell, Annette Smith, Andrea Lloyd, Clarissa Davis, Vicki Hall, Cinietra Henderson and Danielle Viglione. A work of protean diversity and completeness, Longhorn Hoops covers everything a fan may want to know about basketball history at UT.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.